'When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras' - the old adage is well-known to GPs but what should you do when faced with a zebra, not a horse? Consultant cardiologist Professor Robert Tulloh and GP Dr Louise Tulloh kick off our new series with their advice on how to catch Kawasaki disease in general practice.

Practices in the region are concerned that allowing the extracts to happen would leave GPs vulnerable to legal action from patients under the Data Protection Act.

However, NHS England said that failure to disclose the data will mean practices would be in breach of their statutory obligation under the Health and Social Care Act (HaSCA) to share confidential information with the HSCIC.

NHS England has now written to practices in the north of England, and has given them eight weeks to make patients aware of the changes using materials such as posters and leaflets jointly created by NHS England, the BMA and the RCGP. The other areas of the country will follow shortly.

But Northumberland LMC chair Dr Jane Lothian said the LMC was considering a boycott, and was looking into whether it would be legal or practical.

Dr Lothian said: ‘We’re looking at whether a county wide intention to opt out would be feasible and appropriate, to give patients more time to make an informed decision. This is one option amongst others. We just thought how on earth are we going to make our concerns about this heard?’

She added that GPs are caught between legal obligations, and that the LMC is aware of NHS England’s stance that a boycott would leave GPs in breach of their duties under the HaSCA.

Dr Lothian said: ‘We’ve got a statutory duty from the HaSCA to do A and a legal duty from the DPA to do B. We’re just going to have to live with that and there’s no definitive guidance. I am aware of the stance of the NHS England; its not helpful.’

One practice in the area was only notified by NHS England about the extracts two weeks into the eight week awareness raising period allowed by NHS England, including receiving resources such as posters and leaflets, she said.

She added that the whole LMC committee was concerned about the extracts, as practices have not been given enough time to make patients aware of the changes to the handling of their personal data, and their right to opt out. There were also concerns that the information extracted would make patients in the area identifiable, she said.

She said: ‘We’re concerned about the short timescale, over the summer holidays. We haven’t been given the resources or time for this. A couple of hundred leaflets in a practice of 10,000 is neither here nor there. If you’re lucky enough not to go to my GP practice in two months, then there’s nothing to tell you about this.’

NHS England has said that GP practices will be in breach of the Health and Social Care Act if they do not disclose data and that patients have the right to opt out of the extracts.

A spokesperson for NHS England said: ‘The Health and Social Care Act creates a statutory obligation on GP practices to disclose personal confidential information to the HSCIC in certain circumstances, for example to comply with a direction from NHS England. GPs will be in breach of this statutory requirement if they do not disclose the data, unless a patient has registered an individual objection.

‘The care.data programme will provide a vital information to commissioners and approved organisations about the quality, efficiency, and equity of health services.

‘We are deeply committed to protecting patients’ privacy and will honour the wishes of any individuals who object to their personal, confidential information being sent to the HSCIC. Working jointly with the BMA, the RCGP, and groups of patients we have developed a range of resources to support GP practices with their duties under the Data Protection Act.’

They said: ‘Where there is an unusual number of objections recorded in a particular GP practice, NHS England will work with the Health and Social Care Information Centre, the RCGP and the BMA to explore the reasons in more detail.’

A spokesperson for the BMA said: ‘Data extraction is needed so commissioning groups can effectively plan local services. It’s crucial, however, that patients have confidence in how their personal information is stored and used.

‘That’s why the BMA pushed hard for improvements to be made to the government’s original proposals on data extraction, including successfully for the right of patients to opt out of their records being used for care.data or passed to certain secondary sources.

‘Crucially, following the efforts of the BMA, commissioners will only have access to anonymised data and if patients decide after eight weeks not to give permission for their data to be shared they can inform their GP. The data is not for commercial sale and, with the exception of possible admin fees there is no charge for accessing the data.

‘We recognise the concerns some GPs have expressed and the BMA is continuing to lobby NHS England and the Information Commission’s Office to ensure they advise GP practices on compliance, and to support patient awareness campaigns. NHS England have stated they intend to launch further awareness raising activities so GPs don’t have sole responsibility for making informing patients.

‘There is a legal requirement for GP practices to provide this information.’

Readers' comments (13)

The government seem to have abandoned all pretense of acting honorably over this one. Misappropriating peoples data on this vast scale is just plain wrong. How do NHS England not get this exactly? They are treating the public with utter contempt and even the press haven't woken up to this one. This is the next big NHS scandal waiting to happen.

I absolutely love the last paragraph, which is loaded with menace. Seems to me that if one reverses the logic that putting up posters in a GP’s surgery constitutes consent then the putting up of a poster stating that all patients will have the exclusion code put on their notes unless they wish the HSCIC access, in which case the code would be removed, is just as valid.

And what then? NHS England comes breathing fire? Really? Push comes to shove I am retired and they can go forth and multiply.

I am truly astounded the red tops haven’t got hold of this massive intrusion of the state into people lives.

If we share our data we make ourselves liable to being sued by our patients who quite rightly will argue that they were not consulted properly, if we do not share our data then we are liable to be sued by NHS England, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't, lets face it, I doubt NHS England will be able to sue us all with the cuts they are facing to our resources whereas it only takes one patient to sue us for us to be in a real pickle. The safest strategy is to opt out all our patients and take our chances with big brother England

We are due to run a SMS campaign to all patients regarding same and directing them to the HSCIC website. If they have any queries we include the name and phone number of local MP (Conservative) to call to discuss this concerns. The MP can answer their political decisions and I will clarify my medical decisions -simples!

Talking of investigations I came across this that the press have not picked up either (deaths of doctors during investigation - turns out I in 25 are dying in GMC investigations alone). It seems that no-one is bothered and we are just expendable.